City Dweller

Joel Muller is a Psychologist who grew up in Australia before moving to the United States when he was in high school. He lived and worked in New Orleans prior to relocating to Chicago.

Rick Harnish co-founded the High Speed Rail Alliance in 1993 and has been its Executive Director since 2001. The Alliance builds the political will for systemic change by advocating for integrated rail and transit networks connected by 200+ mph high-speed lines. By connecting cities, towns and airports, the high-speed trains will dramatically expand economic opportunities and slash carbon emissions.  Harnish’s work is informed by his strong commitment to researching and learning from global best practices

Ben Adams grew up in the Elmwood Park neighborhood of Columbia, South Carolina. As a child, he couldn't wait to move to a larger city. Ben went to college in Washington, DC and then moved to New York City. During visits back to Columbia, he was impressed by the revitalization happening in Columbia's downtown. Eventually, Ben decided to move back to Columbia to pursue his dream of opening a bookstore. In early 2020, he opened Odd Bird Books in The Arcade Building, a recently restored shopping arcade on Columbia's Main Street that was built in 1912. In 2023, Odd Bird Books will be replaced by All Good Books, a bookstore in Columbia's Five Points neighborhood that Ben will be opening in partnership with Clint and Jenna Wallace.

Rachel Hyman moved to Chicago to attend the University of Chicago and has continued to live in Chicago after graduation. She is the founder of Anthology of Chicago, a project that has collected poetry, fiction and nonfiction about Chicago neighborhoods. Rachel has also hosted a reading series called Welcome to the Neighborhood in collaboration with Paul Dailing, the creator of 1,001 Chicago Afternoons. Her latest venture is Bitza Press, the publisher of a series of zines, currently focused on people's experiences using social media.

Nathan grew up in the London Borough of Lewisham. As a child, he developed an interest in public transportation. This led him to start the YouTube channel NetworkNathan. He is currently a student at the University of Leeds where he is pursuing a BA in Geography with Transport Studies.

Joanna Moncrieff is a native Londoner who loves to share her knowledge of the city's history as well as its best historic pubs, hidden gardens, unusual museums, quirky shops, and other lesser known treasures. She has been leading guided walks in the City of Westminster, the West End, Clerkenwell, and Islington since 2009. Joanna also leads walks closer to where she lives in Walthamstow and Chingford. A couple of her most popular walks are her Walthamstow walk, ‘From Monoux and Morris to Beer and Bacon Jam’ and her ‘Foodie themed Christmas Lights’ walk in the West End.

Kat is originally from Perth, Western Australia. She grew up all over the state, from small towns, to farms, to the city. She spent a lot of time exploring the area with her parents and took countless road trips. In 2005, her dad took her on her first overseas trip, to Egypt, and she was hooked with the travel bug.

She moved to the United Kingdom in 2013 on a UK Ancestry Visa. Once the excitement of landing in the UK died down, she faced the challenges of finding a job and a place to live, making friends, and learning how to live in a new country. Her blog Kat's Gone Global offers tips for those visiting or moving to the UK.

Matt, the Editor-at-Large of Londonist, is probably the most London-obsessed person in the world, reaching parts of the capital others can’t reach. In the cause of exploring London, he has waded along the buried River Fleet, spent the night in a haunted plague pit, caught a lung infection by climbing Soho’s tallest steeple, and walked along the tracks beneath Leicester Square at 2am. Matt has lived in Blackheath, Borough, Greenwich, Weybridge, West Hampstead, Fortune Green and Chalk Farm. Thanks to the capital’s obscene property prices, he’s since gone into exile in what he optimistically refers to as “The Future London Borough of Elstree and Borehamwood.”

Matt is the author of 12 books, including London Night and Day (2015), Everything You Know About London Is Wrong (2016), and the bestselling/award-winning Atlas of Imagined Places (2021).

Laurence grew up in England and became fascinated with the United States at an early age. Along with his wife, he moved to the US in 2008, and they currently live in Chicago. He is the creator of the YouTube channel Lost in the Pond. The title refers to those things, including word differences and cuisines, that were lost in translation when he moved to the United States.